How can I use ePals in my classroom?

I explored ePals for the very first time. I am almost hesitant to admit that I have been a language teacher for 7 years and have not had any experience with ePals. I immediately went to find a classroom and match the students that I teach (13-17 years) according to their age group, preferred location, first language, etc. I immediately saw an opportunity to break away from the traditional classroom, and  collaborate with students from different corners of the world and become engaged in this cultural exchange community. I view this as a valuable opportunity to offer learning outside classrooms, while offering authentic Spanish language input, something that my high school's town does not have much experience with.

I think it would be great to allow my students to work in pairs to try their best to translate something that a high school group of students wanted to talk about from Spanish to English, and vice versa.  The relevance is what would really motivate the students.  

Through this Web interaction, students from both classrooms can learn new cultural knowledge from their partners.

When I consider something that I lack in my teaching, I myself like the other language teachers that I collaborate with, typically respond that it’s difficult to find native or fluent language speakers that our students can interact with. ePals is a solution.

Twitter for my classroom? TWEET TWEET TWEET

Twitter for my classroom? 

Twitter is only as useful to you as the network of people that you connect to. (Burgos, 2011)

I agree with this statement, as I also believe this for my LinkedIn account. They used to say “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Today, it’s what and who you know, and how you connect these dots.

I am very new to this connected world. Blogging, twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, TeacherTube, YouTube, etc. all require time, something that is very precious to me at this point in my life. I am not sure that I have time to maintain all of these connections, but the ease of opting to do so is attractive to me. I now have a slew of resources at my fingertips, should I have the time to participate. It is constantly updating itself. In the future, I hope to blog more, as my life circumstances begin to allow. I look forward to reflection, and the possibility of having some sort of an impact on an audience.

As for Twitter in particular, I do not see myself using twitter in the classroom in so many ways. I read a list of over 60 ways to use Twitter in the classroom. I went through them all, and with many of them I found it applicable to a college level course.  A Must Have Guide On Using Twitter in Your Classroom listed very great ideas- in theory.

I find myself sounding very negative and pessimistic, when really I want to embrace the connectivism theory and advocate technology in the classroom. But…I have taught for 7 years in a high school classroom, and I find that the vast majority of the teenagers that I teach would not be able to steer clear from the distractions of twitter. My main concern is that Twitter is flooded with distraction. Upon first encounter, I saw Twitter as an unnecessary tool. I saw a tool for the toolshed- not the workbench! 

After further consideration and experimentation, I could tweet to my students as simply a means of communication. Like a birdie in their ear TWEET, TWEET, TWEET 

I could see myself adding a teacher profile of the course that I was teaching and asking my students to follow me for updates- I could see this freeing up some of my own stress if I wanted to decide to cancel or postpone a test at the last minute, for example. In a way, it’s like texting your students (which is not allowed), because for many of my students, their tweets come in to their smartphones and automatically alert them.

The thought of a tweet from me, streaming to them while they are watching tv at home is an enticing opportunity. Perhaps once the novelty of connecting to Justin Beiber wears off (huh!), I may consider using Twitter in my classroom for grammar, writing, and language exercises.

The only question now is how? I am new to twitter- what is a hash tag! See this Twitter Cheat sheet I need this extra help right now. Do you?! Happy Tweeting.

Connectivism through Social Networking

·      When I don’t know something, I have a network of colleagues that I can put out my ignorance to…it’s important to stay connected to people who are smarter than us…

·      It’s a little bit intimidating when you have to start off as almost a novice again, but it’s also exciting as you learn and discover. {Levine talking about trying something new in technology}

            Alan Levine 2:40 YouTube video

An example of a valuable site for teacher networking…

Teacher 2.0 “is an independent community for educators to explore their interests and passions, and to build a network of support for educators at all levels.  Through this community, with online events, interviews, and workshops, the goal is to have educators help each other become re-energized in their careers and in their contributions to the world.” There is a category set up for labs, ideas, members, groups, books, and more.

I chose this networking site, among many others, mostly because you have to register and be approved to join the network in order to avoid spammers. I some other social networks, like NYSCATE for example, I noticed many spammers that flooded the forums with hairstyling tips.

Upon investigating this site further, I found a book entitled Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education by Will Richardson, the author of this LAI590 course’s text.

I also found a plethora of blogs that would be beneficial to follow, something of which I had difficulty finding in earlier mods for this course.